Deer culling the natural way (1 Viewer)

[MiddleRiver]

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In America, however, conservation has historically been funded almost exclusively by hunting and fishing. The revenue from hunting licenses and permits was $902 million in 2020. Furthermore look at the impact of organizations like Ducks Unlimited and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. U.S. conservation is built on hunting, and without it, we wouldn't have much left.

This is true.
And it’s not trophy hunters, by and large (AK possibly the exception?).

 

[Conndomat]

I’m not sure how the hunters drive out the hikers by you, here we have game wardens and police that will enforce people rights to gather on state owned land, of course private land and management units are another story Sounds to me you have more of a political and law-enforcement issue than a hunting issue.

"Unser Wald ist nicht in guten Händen" - Peter Wohlleben im GEO-Interview

Die Sorge um die Natur muss bei der Pflege der Wälder eine größere Rolle spielen, sagt der Autor und Förster Peter Wohlleben im GEO-Interview

www.geo.de

"About half of the forests in Germany are in private hands, the other half belongs to all of us. They are public property. But those who manage the forests for us, the forest authorities, together with hunters, often behave as if they own them. They ignore the expectations of the population and sometimes even try to keep us citizens out of the forests. In Germany, anyone is allowed to enter any forest...We are allowed to walk around in it at any time of the day or night! The only exceptions to this are a few protected areas. Everyone should know and use this. In the USA, for example, there is no such right of access. Unfortunately, some hunters try to unsettle walkers so much that they don't go in after all, let alone trudge off the paths between the trees."

How does this happen?

"For example, with signs that say: "Caution, rabies!" This disease has been eradicated in Germany. Or: “Warning, wolves are hunting in this area!” These are attempts to keep people away."

Why should we be prevented from entering the forests?

"Because walkers disturb forestry and hunting operations. The basic understanding of the forest administrations in Germany can already be seen from their terms: "Trees" are not planted or cared for, but "hardwood" and "coniferous wood". The Federal Constitutional Court established in 1990 that wood production is of secondary importance in public forests".

Paul, even if the forest here is predominantly a cultural landscape, for us Germans the forest is a kind of sanctuary, it lives in stories and myths, it is part of German cultural history, anchored deep in the soul, the forests cannot belong to anyone, they belong all of us and any time!

As far as deprivation of liberty, half the population in the United States had their civil liberties taken away from them for over a year during Covid. Let’s see if that’ll play out the same way next time.

Yes, it was the case in many countries, the governments have assumed the worst-case scenario, the next pandemic will perhaps be handled a little more confidently, but now walking in the forest is allowed again and the hunters should also stick to it and not try to fool the citizens.

Andreas

 

[qwerty5]

This is true.
And it’s not trophy hunters, by and large (AK possibly the exception?).

At this point I think we need to define what we mean by trophy hunters. I tend to think of them as those going out with the purpose of getting a large or nice-looking animal, as opposed to hunting strictly for meat, and not caring what it looks like. I would venture to say that the majority of hunters in America at least try to go for the big antlers, but that's based solely on my perception.

 

[Farnboro John]

At this point I think we need to define what we mean by trophy hunters. I tend to think of them as those going out with the purpose of getting a large or nice-looking animal, as opposed to hunting strictly for meat, and not caring what it looks like. I would venture to say that the majority of hunters in America at least try to go for the big antlers, but that's based solely on my perception.

One of the problems with trophy hunting is that it distorts the gene pool, taking evidently very fit individuals out of breeding ahead of time. Animal predators make their selections in a different way (the old and the young and the weak and the sick) and of course this has a different effect on the population structure as well as automatically culling diseased and genetically disabled animals.

This has been most obviously shown to be deleterious in e.g. Elephants where the desire for tusker trophies (and the pressure that poaching for ivory exerts as these criminals also require the most ivory from the least effort) have actually almost eliminated tuskers from the breeding pool. The whole aim of trophy hunting is ecologically inappropriate, another reason it is anathema to conservationists.

John

 

[Trinovid]

I would venture to say that the majority of hunters in America at least try to go for the big antlers, but that's based solely on my perception.

There are two parts to this; most hunters that I've talked to would like to both put a lot of meat in the freezer, and have a large rack to hang up as well. My personal preference for moose, knowing that the yearlings are both plenty large enough, but still smaller, less work and better tasting are the best choice.

 

[etudiant]

There are two parts to this; most hunters that I've talked to would like to both put a lot of meat in the freezer, and have a large rack to hang up as well. My personal preference for moose, knowing that the yearlings are both plenty large enough, but still smaller, less work and better tasting are the best choice.

I believe that meat hunters prefer to take does, the meat has better taste and is less tough.
This goes against the grain for older hunters, taught to avoid does, but appears to be more accepted now..
Afaik, doe tags are more available as well, as the authorities try to limit the herd size.

 

[Trinovid]

I believe that meat hunters prefer to take does, the meat has better taste and is less tough.
This goes against the grain for older hunters, taught to avoid does, but appears to be more accepted now..
Afaik, doe tags are more available as well, as the authorities try to limit the herd size.

There's definitely hunters who prefer doe harvest, but I've noticed that regardless of doe or bull, the younger ones are always less tough, and also weigh a lot less, and 200-300 lbs. of better tasting meat is a pretty good haul anyway. That's why most Alaskans prefer the smaller, but generally better tasting sockeye salmon to pink, dog, silver or kings.